Other interests: All things sports, softball, crafts, traveling, longboarding, spending time with family and friends

Elizabeth Coggeshall, BA Anthropology Honors, The University of Texas at Austin

Faculty advisor: Dr. Jessica Mayhew

Research interests: Social and biological development of non-human primates, mother-infant relationships, disease and social networks, parasitology and gut microbiome, human-wildlife interactions, bioethics and rehabilitation

Research interests: the development of gendered behavior in gorillas, reproduction and rearing of offspring in callitrichids, the relationship between neurochemicals and diversity of social structures in callitrichids

Other interests: Knitting, reading (everything but romance and westerns), music, brewing beer, collecting action figures, and having a lot of cats and other pets

Rachel Fuller, BS Anthropology, minor in Biology, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Faculty advisor: Dr. Sofia Blue

Research interests: Primate rehabilitation, primate behavior

Other interests: Long-term effects of rehabilitation on primates, primate conservation

Robert Shaun Mayo, BA Anthropology, minor in Biology, East Tennessee State University

Jake has been accepted into Washington University in St. Louis' Ph.D. program in Biological Anthropology under the advisement of Dr. Crickette Sanz, a CWU alumna. Together, Jake and Dr. Sanz will tackle large questions of behavioral adaptations, comparative social behavior, and individual well-being across sanctuary, zoo and wild chimpanzee populations.

Kailie's previous research includes a study of the activity budget of a juvenile siamang at the El Paso Zoo, which she presented at the 2014 Southwestern Association of Biological Anthropologists convention and was awarded Best Student Poster. Other interests include cats, art, and the great outdoors. Her thesis work investigated the formation of questions in signing chimpanzees.

Her interest in primates was sparked with a class titled "The Psychology of Monkeys and Apes". She has field exprience as a volunteer with chimpanzees at Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage in Zambia, Africa and as a research assistant in the Peruvian Amazon studying tamarins. Samantha has spent the last 5 years volunteering with white-handed gibbons and capuchins at The American Primate Education Sanctuary in Ohio. She is interested in research focused on social interactions in gibbons.

As an undergraduate, Kyle interned as a research assistant with the Sonoma State University Primate Ethology Research Lab where he collected behavioral/spatial data on a group of four mandrills at the San Francisco Zoo. In 2015 he participated in the DANTA Field School, Piro Research Station, Costa Rica where he collected data on the ontogeny of black-handed spider monkey prehensile tail use. Kyle's thesis research was funded through a National Science Foundation East Asia Pacific Summer Institute grant for U.S. graduate students.

Kiri's thesis work centered around Tibetan macaques and tourist interactions in Anhui, China. Her research was funded through a National Science Foundation East Asia Pacific Summer Instititute grant for U.S. graduate students.

Kiri has been accepted into Oklahoma State's Experimental Psychology doctoral program. She will be fully funded and joining Dr. Abramson's laboratory to study shelter dogs and their adopters in hopes of improving the success of adoption rates. Kiri also plans to work with another graduate student in Dr. Abramson's lab on equine therapy research.

Graduate Cohort 2015

2015 Graduate Cohort

Erin Connelly, Anthropology, University of Washington

Faculty advisor: Dr. Jessica Mayhew

Erin worked at a chocolate factory before starting at Central. Her research interests included: howler monkeys, seed disperal, and howler monkey seed dispersal.

Erin is currently an intern at the Lester E. Fisher Center for the Great Apes at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, IL.

Anthony Denice, BS Biology, minor in History, Northeastern University

Faculty advisor: Dr. Jessica Mayhew

As an undergraduate, Anthony developed an interest in primatology and volunteered on a reintroduction project of Peruvian spider monkeys (Ateles chamek). In 2014, he collected behavioral data on a community of wild black-handed spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) in southern Mexico. He completed an apprenticeship at Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary where he cared for New World monkeys that had been retired from laboratory research and the pet trade.

Brenda was a volunteer at the Los Angeles Zoo and the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute. She is interested in innovative enrichment that will effectively increase the activity budgets of captive primates.

In 2012 Hilary was a behavioral research intern at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park where she worked with a troop of six western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and six orangutans (Pongo spp.) in a diet study that has been used to reduce regurgitation and re-ingestion in captive apes. Hilary also has experience as a canine care specialist at the Humane Animal Treatment Society, a primate husbandry intern at the Primate Rescue Center and a wildlife biology intern at the Association to Rescue Critters.

Hilary is currently a Primate Behavior Rehabilitation Consultant for Primates Inc. in Wisconsin.

Kaylen Kilfeather, BA Anthropology, minor in German, James Madison University

Faculty advisor: Dr. Jessica Mayhew

Kaylen has patched together an eclectic background: working at a nature perserve in Texas, as part of a microbiology research team, as a macro-invertebrate stream monitor, and for a company that works with dolphins. She is currently researching the gestural communication and perspective-taking abilities of northern white-cheeked gibbons (Nomascus leucogenys) at the Gibbon Conservation Center in California.

Courtney Martinez, BS Psychology, minor in Zoology, Washington State University

Faculty advisor: Dr. Lori Sheeran

Courtney volunteered at the Centre for Animal Rehabilitation and Education (C.A.R.E.) in South Africa and was entrusted with the daily supervision of 11 ex-laboratory chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) and overall care of various local wildlife. Her primary interests are communication and cognition. She studied mother-infant interactions in Tibetan macaques in China.

Kristín Ocasio-Rodriguez, BS General Biology, University of Puerto Rico, Bayamon

Faculty advisor: Dr. Jessica Mayhew

Kristín previously worked at the Caribbean Primate Research Center, Puerto Rico where she worked with the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta). She participated in a field course in Ometepe, Nicaragua, where she studied mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata).

Amanda is a former employee of the Colorado Plateau Museum of Arthropod Diversity and intern of Out of Africa Wildlife Park where she worked closely with marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) and ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta). Her thesis research focused on collective decision-making behavior in Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana). Amanda's field research was funded by the National Science Foundation East Asia Pacific Summer Institute for U.S. graduate students.

Thesis: Collective Decision-Making in Tibetan Macaques: How Followers Affect the Rules and Efficiency of Group Movement / 2017

Amanda is currently a student in SUNY's Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences where she works under the guidance of Dr. Patricia Wright studying insectivory in lemurs. Amanda has been awarded a Graduate Council Fellowship from SUNY.

Alexandra Sheldon, BA Anthropology with Honors, University of Central Florida; BA Interdisciplinary Perspectves on the Environment, University of Oklahoma

Faculty advisor: Dr. Lori Sheeran

Allie lived in Nanjing, China working as an English teacher, studied behavior in mantled howler monkeys in Nicaragua and saddle-back tamarins in Peru, and lived in The Gambia at the Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project where she was in charge of the environmental education programs.

Thesis: Family Dynamics in Four Species of Captive Gibbons at the Gibbon Conservation Center / 2017

Allie currently works as a data analyst for the GEAR UP program at Central Washington University.

Lily Stolar, BA Anthropology, minors in French and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona

Faculty advisor: Dr. Mary Lee Jensvold

Lily was an intern at the Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, AZ where she worked with gibbons (Hylobates lar) and black-and-white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata). She also participated in a primate field studies program in Rwanda, where she studied 10 local species of primates in the wild, including mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Thesis: Response of Three Monkeys to Caregiver Use of Species-Specific Behavior / 2018

Lily currently works as an animal caregiver at the Fund for Animals Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Texas.

Graduate Cohort 2014

2014 Graduate Cohort

Krista (Kris) Banda, BA Anthropology & Psychology, Emory University

Faculty advisor: Dr. Gabrielle Stryker

She arrived at her interest in primate parasite ecology through a circuitous path that started by working in a neuroscience lab to being a primate intern to working in a Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International lab. Her research in Peru focused on the intestinal parasites of saddleback (Saguinus fuscicollis) and emperor tamarins (S. imperator).

Brianna has previously worked with white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus) and mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) while attending a field school in Costa Rica. As an undergraduate, she also looked at interactions between bonobos (Pan paniscus) and human visitors at the San Diego Zoo while assisting a graduate student from San Diego State University. Her thesis research focused on the effects that human food had on the social interactions and behavior of Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) living at a tourist site at Mt. Huangshan, China. Brianna's fieldwork was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Her faculty advisor was Dr. Lori Sheeran.

Thesis: Provisioning and its effects on the social interactions of Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) at Mt. Huangshan, China / 2016

Brianna is currently working as a keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

Holly Soubiea, BA Psychology, minor in Biology, Holy Names University

Faculty advisor: Dr. Mary Lee Jensvold

Holly has previously been an Animal Care Intern at the Oakland Zoo, where she worked with chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus), hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas), and gibbons (Hylobates lar). She was a volunteer at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest while at Central. Her thesis research fcused on chimpanzees' use of their enclosures at Fauna Foundation.

Holly is currently a caregiver aide for Project Chimps in northern Georgia.

Emily Veitia, BA Sociology/Anthropology, minor in Geography, Florida International University

Faculty advisor: Dr. Lori Sheeran

She previously volunteered at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and currently volunteers at the Mimulus Guttatus lab with Dr. Alison Scoville. Emily's thesis research focused on cross-species interactions in a mixed-species ape exhibit at the Oregon Zoo.

Emily is currently Secretary Supervisor for the Law and Justice Department at Central Washington University.

Kaitlin Wright, BA Biological Anthropology, minor in Biology, University of San Diego

Faculty advisor: Dr. Lori Sheeran

Kaitlin has worked with Orangutan Foundation International in Kalimantan, Indonesia and the Pacific Primate Sanctuary on Maui, Hawaii. Her thesis research was conducted at the Valley of the Wild Monkey in Mt. Huangshan, China and focused on the rate of play signals in Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) during juvenile play bouts. Kaitlin's fieldwork was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Thesis: Play in Immature Tibetan Macaques (Macaca thibetana): Location, Use of Play Signals, and Play Bout Termination at Mt. Huangshan, China / 2016

2013 Graduate Cohort

Greg previously conducted research on western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) at the Franklin Park Zoo, focusing on infant development and personality, and has volunteered in Belize at the Belize Zoo and Wildtracks rehabilitation center with Geoffroy's spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) and Yucatan black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra). His thesis research was conducted at the Valley of the wild Monkeys in Mt. Huangshan, China, examining the collective movements of Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) and analyzing collective decision-making, leader/follower dynamics and social networks.

Thesis: Female Social Connectivity Through the Leadership and Movement Progression of Tibetan Macaques at Mt. Huangshan, China / 2015

Melanie is a former intern at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI). Her thesis research was performed at the Gibbon Conservation Center in southern California looking at the non-vocal communication of Javan Gibbons (Hylobates moloch).

Whitney was an apprentice at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication institute (CHCI) and intern at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. Her thesis research was conducted at Fauna Foundation in Carignan, Quebec, looking at the effects of operant training sessions and unstructured interactions between chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and their caregivers.

Sandra was an apprentice at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI) and intern/volunteer caregiver at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. She is passionate about personhood rights for nonhuman animals and interested in cognitive development, creative expression, and language evolution. She analyzed a series of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) drawings from the CHCI archive for her thesis.

Sandra is currently the Assistant Manager in charge of chimpanzee welfare, volunteer supervision, and on-site finances at Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue (SY), located in the Mbargue Forest in Central Cameroon, Africa.

Ricardo is a licensed veterinary technician and specializes in emergency and critical care medicine. His areas of interest include primate communication, primate physiology of locomotion, infant/mother interactions and parental care. In addition, Ricardo is interested in the welfare of captive primates. He analzyed fecal samples to look at population genetis of white faced saki monkeys (Pithecia pithecia) in South America.

2010 Graduate Cohort

Briana Bauer, BA Spanish, University of Notre Dame

Faculty advisor: Dr. Lori Sheeran

Briana studied bridging behaviors and adult male-adult female affiliative relationships in Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) at the Valley of the Wild Monkeys in Mt. Huanshan, China. During her time at CWU, she finished internships at the Woodland Park, Toledo, and Roger Willams Park zoos.